This is a twofer review. We went on 2 tours with the Austins while on Ocracoke for a weeklong…read morevacation recently. This is our second time to go on the ATV Tour and jthe first time for a new tour they are offering, the Sand Bar Cruise. Both are fantastic! We have such a great time with these down to earth folks. First on the ATV Tour...you show up at their office/umbrella stand that is adjacent to the Jolly Roger Marina on the main drag in Ocracoke on Siler Lake Harbor. Bring these thing with you for certain: SUNSCREEN, GOOD BUG SPRAY. Other items you will need: Water, a few snacks if you are bringing kids and maybe some beach towels. Wear your bathing suit under your clothes. You jump in the boat with Wade (a native Ocracoker...very nice) and a guide and off you go (at a great clip) to Portsmouth Island. It is about a 15 minute boat ride. When you get there Wade will beach the boat and help you off and then he leaves you on the island with your super nice quide. You then hop on some ATV Mules (some with windshields, some without-try to get one with!) and away you go. She will take you to the edge of the Historic Portsmouth Village. Before you get there she stops and lets you DRENCH yourself with bug spray. Because this is a deserted island and a National Park, they don't do commercial mass spraying which is a must on the Outer Banks. THE BUGS ARE TERRIBLE!!! It is almost not worth going to the village because of this, but it is a really neat place. The place is like it was left when the last permanent resident left (back in the late 60's I believe). There is a life saving station with all kinds of informative displays including a replica boat. There is the post office, a really nbeat church that really shows the damage of Hurricane Emily and about 6 other houses. It is a walking tour and it is quite a hike and very buggy, but I swear it is worth it if you have any interest in this sort of thing. When you are done looking over the village, you will dash back out to your ATV (they aren't aloud in the village and you have to park where the bugs are the worst..so run!) and then you go back out the the beach where there are practically NO BUGS. There is great shelling here as hardly anyone takes te private ferry (that costs about $200@ car) so you have the beach all to yourself and for the remander of the tour (which is 4 hours total) you go check out the beach and look for shells (we always find big conch/welks!) You ,may even see some fishermen on the beach. While we were there one pulled in a STINGRAY! They let it go while we were there, thank goodness. Then back down the beach to meet Wade and he takes you back to Ocracoke. This tour is expensive (hence the deduction of 1 star) it is $85 per person. But I really think it is worth the money. NOW for the Sand Bar tour. This is the BANG-FOR-YOUR-BUCK experience on Ocracoke Island. It was WONDERFUL! You get on The Native Son, the Austins' new Pontoon Cruiser. It is very nice. THINGS TO TAKE: sunscreen, towels, chairs, a filled cooler, your beach book-basically whatever you would normally take to the beach with you. They have plenty of room on the boat. When we went , Wade and his wife and kids went with us alond with about 15 other people. The boat holds about 30 or so people and so you are very comfortable on the ride out to the Sand Bar. You go about 2/3 of the way to Portsmouth Island and Wade very smoothly and professionally steers you to the barely visable patch of sand and you disembark. You are on the tour for about 3 hours, and in that time, the Sand Bar keeps getting bigger a the tide is falling the entire time. The area you can explore is almost unlimited. The water on the sandbar varies in depth, from about 6" deep to over your head swimming holes. And all this is about 2 miles off shore! It is SO NEAT. While we were there my nephews (the buddied up with Wade's kids, Hayden and Colby) caught about 20 crabs and we found about 40 sand dollars!! It was so nice. Before we left the sandbar was about as big as half a football field exposed. We just turned our kids loose (ages 13 and 10). They had the most fun we had on the whole trip. This is the best deal on the island. $40 for the adults and $20 for the kids! You can't beat that with a stick! And there was even a coupon in the 'Sunny Deals' guide that is in every store for $5 off the adults! Fantastic. We will DEF be going back for more sand bar tours with the Wade Family. BOIL IT DOWN-If you have the cash go on...BOTH! If you are having to choose between the two, We like the Sand Bar Tour...no bugs and tons of laid back fun. If you need to be a little more entertained, the guided tour of Portsmouth Island is for you. Both are fun...its all about your prefrence.

My wife and I booked a morning trip during a recent stay on Ocracoke. We loved this excursion. Our…read moreguide, Mark, was personable and responsive to the desires of the group; my wife wanted to see one house in particular in the village, and he made sure we did. The ATVs were well-used but ran great and were a blast to drive on the beach. We would most definitely do this again. Well worth the money.

Great adventure on Ocracoke, horse riding on the beach. Guided rides. Healthy horses.read more

This hotel fits the town perfectly - clean, friendly, relaxed, attractive, great value, even better…read morelocation and totally worth coming back to. The Tiki bar was quiet when we arrived in the afternoon, and had a lively crowd by the time we left. Everyone on staff was welcoming and worked to keep the place nicely maintained; the 2nd floor rooms with the upstairs loft and 2nd bathroom are comfortable and have a great view of the marina and harbor. Glad we came back for another stay.

We rent in town and our water heater busted through our wall with an extreme leak. Once they…read morestarted to remove the floors to dry underneath, a mold outbreak was discovered and they put us in a hotel for the time being. Tom was super nice upon arrival and seemed genuinely happy to have us. He was even worried we had an upstairs unit because we have dogs with us. (Which felt so great after the two days we've had). This is the second time we've stayed here and both times the rooms have exceeded our expectations. Super clean & smells wonderful. The layout of the rooms are great & very spacious. Every time we have family members in town, we recommend they stay here! It's the perfect location for vacationers, multiple restaurants walking distance & the view of all the boats is always a treat. I highly recommend booking here

We felt as though we were on an episode of survivor. We were told to be at the pick up point, and…read morewe waited for a full hour in the blazing sun on the dock for our pick up. In fact, the boat captain had all of our phone numbers and did not pick up the phone to tell us whatever his reason was for being late instead, we just sat there. Hot . As we made calls, the first person got an excuse that he had already picked us up, which obviously was impossible. As we were still sitting there the next phone call brought a reason of gas and engine problems, and then finally he came up with the reason that it had to do with a dog on the beach, in short, there is no reason for what happened today. I'm never the one to write a negative review, but this one had to be told . When we got back, I felt assured that the Captain would tell us there was no charge due to the inconvenience, but he gratefully excepted his payment .

I actually enjoyed the village and the history. I wish more time would have been given to the…read morevillage. After 1.25 hours we were taken to a deserted beach and dropped off for 2 hours. No one was prepared to be at the beach so it was wasted time. Pelican island was a great sight. For 20 dollars cash per person I want a tour not a drop off and see you later experience.

the people working on this ferry treated us like actual garbage when we were first getting on. get…read morehelp!

It's free. You get what you pay for! Long wait on a Wednesday in October. Arrive super early,…read morebefore the ferries start if you want to be on the first one. We arrived at 10:30AM and waited for 5 ferries until we got on. They don't hold a ton of cars and they carry commercial vehicles which ofter take up the space of 2-3 cars. They hold about 30 cars and it takes 55 minutes to cross. It use to be faster but they have to take a longer route now. This ferry is funded by the state of North Caroline and is part of the transportation budget. They use to allow the ferry to go over budget but now they cut back service after the season to make sure they stay under budget. Unless you really, really, really want to see Oacracoke, it's not really worth losing 7 hours of your day. There are a few nice places to eat, but not a ton of shopping.

Fantastic sunset cruise! Capt. Rob and crew were incredibly knowledgeable and skilled and we were…read moreable to sit back and enjoy the views. We even got to steer the boat for a while! Great experience and the added COVID precautions were a plus!

Had a wonderful private sunset cruise with Captain Rob and his daughter on our visit to Ocracoke…read more Can't say enough nice things. Captain Rob knows all the stories and legends of the outer banks. If you only see one sunset this year, do it on the Schooner Windfall.

10 stars!!! We worked with Seth and Desiree. THEY WERE BOTH AWESOME!!! Let me attempt to…read moreelaborate... So, this adventure all started on our last day of our vacation. 'Twas a dark and storming morning in Ocracoke, but we still wanted to go out with a bang. We called the office number on the pamphlet that we picked up a few days before (they're not always sitting there, because they have a life, BUT they do always answer the phone listed on the pamphlet and are happy to answer questions)! Anyways, I called and reserved a spot at around 10 am for noon, hoping it would clear up by then enough for a quick ride. It did! But we wanted to go out at low tide to find some Sand bars, so we moved our time to 3 pm- during the 2-3 calls full of questions and scheduling, Desiree was an absolute sweetheart. She truly cared about our experience and accommodating our needs. When we checked in, we were told we were going to be accompanied by Seth for various reasons, I'm sure it was mostly due to weather and low tide concerns (ps don't expect this, it's just a nice treat when it happens!). We were happy about that! A local who knows the good spots is never a bad thing. The rest of the check in process was standard filling out paperwork. The entire time though Desiree was chatting with my boyfriend about a book they both have read- so nice to have pleasant conversation instead of just a stale transaction of money and activity like so many places do. Anyways, Seth took us out and we had an absolute BLAST! Seth was funny, accommodating, asked us what we wanted to do/where we wanted to go and was so laid back. HIGHLY recommend this team. They deserve major kudos from the boss! They have been the sweetest locals on the island thus far.

What a fun experience! You couldn't ask for better people to take you parasailing. They are skilled…read moreat what they do. The whole experience was beautiful and fun!

Awful service. Called at 9 am to make a reservation and was told I wouldn't make it for a 4 via…read moreferry from Roadanthe. Thought that was odd. The lady calls me the next day and said she just missed a call from m. I never called her. I was on the brach when she called with no battery and reception. She then texted me and called me immature for hanging up on her. Obviously she is immature. Definitely would not trust this company to parasail. Take your business to someone that is professional